The Irish Council Against Blood Sports says "Shame on you" to the four Fine Gael MEPs who refused to support a European Parliament Budget Amendment which sought to end massive subsidies to barbaric bullfighting. The subsidies are estimated to be in the region of 130 million Euro of European taxpayers' money.

The result of the vote was very tight at 323 votes in favour, 309 votes against and 58 abstentions. Despite there being majority support for the amendment, it was rejected on the grounds that it didn't have a qualified majority of 376 votes. So, every vote was crucial to bring an end to these cruelty subsidies.

We are at a loss to understand why Fine Gael would choose to abstain from this vote, because it is a clearcut case of EU taxpayers money going towards horrific animal cruelty. We call on them to explain their shameful position. Shame on Deirdre Clune, Brian Hayes, Sean Kelly and Mairead McGuinness for sitting on their hands on an issue of horrific cruelty to animals. They had an opportunity today to vote to end the cash flow to the breeders of bulls that end up being tortured to death in bullrings.

We thank the Irish MEPs who voted in favour of the budget amendment - Lynn Boylan, Matt Carthy, Nessa Childers and Liadh Ní Riada as well as the Northern Irish MEPs Martina Anderson, Diane Dodds and Jim Nicholson.

Unavoidably absent from the vote were Luke Ming Flanagan, Brian Crowley and Marian Harkin (who is supportive of the campaign for a ban on bullfighting).

ACTION ALERT

Ask the four Fine Gael MEPs why they abstained from voting for an end to massive subsidies for the cruel and barbaric bullfighting industry.